1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this day we
observe the Epiphany of our Lord is taken from Matthew 2:1-12, and is entitled,
“Christ is the Light for a Darkened World,” dear brothers and sisters in
Christ.
2.
In
the history of the Western world, there was a period known as the Dark Ages, a
time of relative dearth in the advancement of civilization. The years AD 476 to
1000 are the usual boundaries. Wikipedia
states, “The concept of a Dark Age was introduced by Petrarch in the 1330s.
Writing of those who had come before him, he said, “Amidst the errors there
shone forth men of genius, no less keen were their eyes, although they were
surrounded by darkness and dense gloom.” Christian writers had traditional
metaphors of “light versus darkness” to describe “good versus evil.” Petrarch
was the first to co-opt the metaphor and give it secular meaning by reversing
its application. Classical Antiquity, so long considered the “dark” age for its
lack of Christianity, was now seen by Petrarch as the age of “light” because of
its cultural achievements, while Petrarch’s time, lacking such cultural
achievements, was seen as the age of darkness.” Wikipedia
contributors, “Dark Ages,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dark_Ages&oldid=224282479
(accessed March 18, 2009).
3.
Whether
these assessments are true or not, scholars argue about what represents
darkness and what represents light. For some, the Roman Empire and its culture represented
the light. No doubt early Christians would have disagreed with that assessment
as the culture of the Roman Empire collapsed under its own weight. Corruption
and debauchery, violence and disdain for life were everywhere apparent. Not
only that, but education as it had been known in the Roman Empire all but
disappeared, even in the Church. Darkness
and light are often confused, but Holy Scripture makes clear that only one age
can truly be called light, and that’s the age that began when Christ was born
in Bethlehem. Christ Is the Light for
a Darkened World.
4.
The
star that guided the Wise Men to the infant Jesus was the first light to come
from the manger. As Jesus grew and began his ministry, the light has grown
brighter and brighter. The light went out first to the Jews and then to the
Gentiles, to the whole world. The Good News of this Gospel continues to go out
into a sin-darkened world. In a sense,
every age can be called dark. The
prophet Isaiah describes the darkness that intrudes into every age: “Woe to
those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light
for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Is 5:20).
5.
Darkness
is a metaphor for spiritual blindness. Blind, dead, and an enemy of God is the
way the Bible describes life apart from God, a life set on descending further
and further into the darkness of death. In this sense, every age is the Dark
Ages because of sin. Sometimes the darkness seems to grow. Darkness represents the
age in which all people live where sin rules. It describes our age as well.
6.
Some
blame religion for the many divisions in our world, and it’s true that every
non-Christian religion bears responsibility for dividing people and keeping them
in darkness because they can’t deal effectively with sin. Even misguided
Christians share some of the blame because they don’t understand the nature of
the Gospel, but when Christ is proclaimed as the Savior of all people, then
there’s no division but unity in him. The darkness of separation and hostility
continues in many places in the world, even here in the United States. One of
our strengths used to be that we are a melting-pot culture, taking the
best of many cultures and making them one. Today, people of differing cultures
are placed at odds with each other, all in the name of political correctness.
They complain, “You’re offending me and my culture!” People simply don’t
get along.
7.
No
government has the answer to such fracturing of society. No government program
can change the reasons why people are at odds with each other. No legislation
can break down the barriers. Ironically, legislation often exacerbates a bad
situation. No human being can fix it. But Christ can. Because he is the Savior
of all people, he breaks down the barriers that exist not only between Jew and
Gentile but also between Arab and Jew, Asian and African, white and black.
Christ isn’t the divider but the unifier of mankind.
8.
Christ
came to bring his riches to all people because all people are in need of what
Christ brings. All people, regardless of ethnic, racial, or political stripe,
need the forgiveness that Christ brings, because all people lie in the bondage
of darkness, sin, and death. Christ is the light that lightens every man, said
the evangelist John: In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of
men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was
John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might
believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the
light. The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was
made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his
own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in
his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (Jn
1:1–13)
9.
If
anything, Christmas is a Jewish celebration. Jesus is born a Jew in a Jewish
city of Jewish parents. He’s raised according to the Law of Moses. He fulfills
it. What’s more, he’s the fulfillment of God’s promises to have a son of David
sitting on the throne forever. Suppose that you are not born a Jew. The promise
is not for you because you are not one of God’s chosen people. But Epiphany
changes all that! Epiphany shouts that this newborn King isn’t merely King of
the Jews but the King of all people. He’s the Savior of the Jews, and he’s the
Savior of the Gentiles. The Gospel now goes global with the visit of the Magi!
It happened, just as Isaiah had foretold and as Paul wrote in our Epistle, that
the mystery hidden for ages is now revealed, “epiphanied,” if you will.
“This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same
body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph
3:6).
10.
Earlier
Paul reminded his Gentile readers: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once
were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is
our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the
dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in
ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so
making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross,
thereby killing the hostility” (Eph 2:13–16).
11.
This
is what Jesus accomplished by his death on the cross. By removing the sin that separated
us from God, by bringing us back together with our Creator, he has also drawn
us back together with all other people—all of them also sinful but now
forgiven, all of them drawn back to the very same God. “Arise, shine,” Isaiah writes in our Old Testament
Reading, “for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you”
(Is 60:1). At Epiphany, Jesus the Light,
has come!
12.
Still,
darkness often threatens to overwhelm the light. It must seem that way these
days as we see, hear, and read the news from all over the world! The shadows
often intrude into our lives, too, because human beings continue to sin. Some
continue stubbornly in the pitch darkness of sin and death, empowered by the
prince of darkness, seeking to drag the sons of light back into the darkness,
but the world will not go back to the Dark Ages—and this is because of the
Epiphany of our Lord. The darkness cannot put out the light of Christ, because
Christ lives. “The light shines in the darkness,” John said, “and the
darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:4). Christ has won the final victory
over the darkness of sin, death, and hell by his innocent life, suffering, and
death.
13.
We
need to have that sober view of this sin-darkened world. The outcome is not in
doubt, but there are many battles yet to fight against the forces of darkness.
Christ, the true light, continues to be with us. At the baptismal font, he
turned on the light in our hearts—as Luther says in his explanation to the
Third Article, he has “enlightened me with his gifts,”—turned on the
light so that we see and believe that God is loving and forgiving for Christ’s
sake. Christ has attached himself to you so that you are called “sons of
light” (Jn 12:36). And Paul urges you to live out your Baptism: “For at
one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and
true)” (Eph 5:8–9). And again: “For
God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
(2 Cor 4:6).
14.
And
then the apostle John writes: “At the same time, it is a new commandment
that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness
is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in
the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother
abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling” (1 Jn
2:8–10).
15.
What
glorious light there is for you in the Supper of our Lord! Here in the Supper
is light because Christ himself, who is the true light, is here bodily for you.
Here he gives you himself as the tangible proof that he has redeemed you,
forgiven you, and brought you out of the darkness of sin and death into the
light of his grace.
16.
Christ,
the true light, continues to shine in ways that the world in its darkness
cannot overcome. But you see the light! You live in the light because of your
Baptism! You are children of the light! Christ is the light for a darkened
world. May you also be part of those who share this light in the darkness of
our world. May you share your bounties here in this congregation so that others
here and around the world may also come out of the darkness of sin and death
and into the light, which is Christ our Lord!
Amen. The Peace of God that
passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life
everlasting. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment